Soβ¦ itβs quarter past midnight this time and I only had to do 15 reviews, so weβll call that slightly improved life balance, eh?
Had a day working from home today, which meant a chance to get some stuff done around the place and just generally get a bit of rest. I headed over to campus this morning and was 5mins early for my prints to finish, so ended up standing around a bit, but swiftly got them all off the plate and headed home just as soon as they were done.
Tomorrow Iβll be going back onto campus for work, probably fairly early - my pretence of trying to run in the morning has been temporary paused because Iβve simply not got the physical energy on top of the emotional energy lately. Though perhaps if I actually went to bed on time I would, eh?
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According to William Proxmire, if you sleep one hour less than you sleep now, no matter how much that is, and exercise for one hour instead, you will be healthier and feel better.
(Probably not strictly true in the extreme case, but part of his argument was that physical exercise improves the quality of your sleep, for example, by increasing the proportion of deep sleep.)
Ugh, itβs now midnight, so we can say that my life balance has slipped once again! I just did 24 reviews and unlocked some vocab, but those lessons can wait until morning.
Today was my busiest day of the week at work and I spent a lot of time rushing around getting stuff done. Iβve been once again in the 3D printing lab, this time working with the resin printers to make silent fidget cube in a feat of ironic hyperfocus, hehe. Printed one test earlier in the day and found that printing flat on the plate of the Form 3+ was not a good way to get a smooth surface and so Iβve left a longer overnight print with the layers set at 0.025mm and the cube placed on a point so that it has minimum contact. Weβll see in the morning how well it worked, I guess.
Iβve managed get a lot of stuff out the way today so I can have a relitively quiet today tomorrow, thankfully. Still feeling a bit melancholy, but focussing on things that I enjoy doing. Iβve very much got projects lined up in my head, including drawing some more durtles, because Iβve not used my iPad to draw in ages!
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If youβre getting only one hour of sleep per night and you swap it for one hour of exercise, you will not be healthier and feel better. You will die.
For the general principle, however, there is some evidence, going back to the 1960s, when Kenneth Cooper measured the sleep patterns of exercisers and non-exercisers in the Aerospace Medical Laboratory of the US Air Force, and claimed that sounder sleep was one of the first physical reactions to an aerobic conditioning program.
Proxmire was no scientist, but he had a talent for motivational writing on exercise and fitness. (He wrote the preface to Kenneth Cooperβs book Aerobics in 1968.)
This little gem of his stuck in my mind and kept me exercising when I felt like sleeping instead.
Iβll be honest, Iβm writing this at 8PM on the 18th, but I want to keep my daily entries daily, so Iβm doing it this way regardless. Thankfully Iβve had the WaniKani API filling up a daily entries Google Sheet since they made that a thing in September 2020, so Iβve got my figures, hehe.
Managed to get caught up with my lessons just fine ^-^
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S asked if I wanted to have breakfast and so we met up early and had a lovely walk, talk, and eat. It was really nice to spend that time together. We had a lovely lunchtime too and then a very lovely evening too - a delicious meal, some cosy sofa time, and a lot of cathartic talking about stuff and general catching up. It really felt like things were positive again and I was so happy to be in that bubble of a lovely Friday night.
Then it got sad at the very end and so Iβm feeling a bit all over the place again, honestly, which is why Iβve been pretty absent for the last 24hrs. I managed to keep up with my reviews though AND managed to only be three posts late for posting the self-nomination post for the next POLLmaster.
A 45 (+/-0)βββββββββββ βββ G 273 (+/-0) ββββ βββββββββ M 0 (+/-0)ββ ββββ βββββ E 0 (+/-0) βββ ββββββββ B 0 (+/-0)
Iβve levelled up to 4 and am half way down with lessons already; the benefit of going back over stuff Iβve done several times before and of having an abundance of free time currently.
I woke up this morning at Sβ place and I wish that I could say that things were okay, because the night before felt like an almost perfect one. Itβs taken three weeks to feel like things were getting okay again, taking time and space to process how we were feeling, trying to be as calm and gentle as possible. It honestly felt like I was getting my best friend back and itβs feeling incredibly hard right now. I refuse to regret the choice though, because I have so missed spending time with her and as much as Iβm hurting right now, I treasure those moments.
Still, I wish I could say I was making healthy choices, but I very much ate a lot of cake far too close to bed time and now my body is tired, but my brain isnβt. Iβve tried to hard to be healthy lately, because Iβm acutely aware that sugar isnβt helpful when youβre feeling emotionally fragile. The spike in body chemicals that make you energetic and happy to begin with quickly drain and leave you feeling hollow and anxious - my binging reaction to being sad is one Iβve tried very hard to get out of. Back to being healthy on Monday.
In two and a half weeks I go down to Cornwall to stay with my mum for a week as Iβve got to be out of my place temporarily. I get really anxious about being away from home that long, but Iβm trying my best to look forward to the time and consider the benefits of getting away from things.
For now, Iβm going to try and rest. Itβs been a long day and Iβm emotionally and physically exhausted. Into bed with my book until I crash inevitably.
A 78 (+32)βββββββββββ βββ G 290 (+17) ββββ βββββββββ M 0 (+/-0)ββ ββββ βββββ E 0 (+/-0) βββ ββββββββ B 0 (+/-0)
The exercise component is great; trading sleep rather than, say, screen time is what I strongly disagree with - many societies are struggling with the effects of chronic unsleeping.
Speaking of exercise, Joeni, I used to do cross-country running (and want to get back into it, am currently out of shape and a touch overweight ); one of the training exercises we used to do was runner-specific interval training where you would walk a set distance/time/number of strides, alternated with running an equal amount, and the running intervals would be done at different paces (40%, 60, 30, 80), so instead of decided to go for a whole run you could mix it up.
But youβre right about running being so much more challenging - it requires exponentially more lung & heart capacity and muscle exertion. My cheat/motivation is going to be doing canicross with my younger dog, so sheβll be helping to pull me up what few hills we have around here
That sounds very much like how they recommend you do βcouch to 5kβ and is categorically what I should have done the first time I tried doing a 5k Parkrun. As opposed to what actually happened; running too fast for the first half and then never came catching enough breath back to do any running in the second
I used to have really good long capacity when I skated regularly, itβs sad to think. Granted, I was also younger, but when I went for long fast skates along the seafront in Exmouth I would often sing while I skated. I figure this forced me to develop sufficient long capacity, hehe.
Of course, skating is a very low impact activity and what I have to realise is that despite being two stone lighter than I was 18 months ago, Iβm still a nearly 6ft tall man who is built fairly broad at the shoulder and had the thighs of someday who skated from the age of 3. Which is to say, Iβve still got a fair amount of density and I feel it when I run
It was a busy Sunday this week rushing around with my kiddo, spent two hours in the park in the morning and another hour of walking in the afternoon and so Iβm sorry to say that by the time it reached the evening my mind was so exhausted that I failed to do much of anything at all, including updating this.
It was Motherβs Day here in the UK and I was very pleased that my mum loved her present. Kiddo chose some flowers for his mum and so I put my rusty flower wrapping skills to use to go with the card I had ready. I felt pretty conflicted all day regarding it though, because I wanted more than anything to send wishes to S - it took a lot of self-restraint to just give her space and not put my desire to contact her ahead of her need for space.
Much too late to bed by far meant that I didnβt manage to get my vocab lessons done today, Iβm sorry to say.
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Itβs nearly 1AM and Iβm sat here writing this despite the fact that I need to get up early to head onto campus to pull a resin version of Snorlax from the Form 3+ on campus, because Iβm an idiot who continues to fail to prioritise his sleep properly despite knowing the benefits it can have and the detriment lack of sleep can cause to ADHD symptoms. I really wish I could get better at this - itβs becoming a consistent theme now that Iβm sleeping alone every night.
I had a nice day at work, at least, didnβt go in too early, got a lot of good stuff done including a long project finally finished to setup some secure network connections to the Ultimaker 5S printers to get their job queuing and remote monitoring active. Iβve been meaning to get it done for the last three years, so itβs really about time.
In the morning Iβve also got therapy from 9AM, so I have to head across Bath for that. The weather is looking dismal enough to make me dread the travel Iβll have to do, but I find these sessions super valuable, so Iβm glad Iβm going.
Iβm trying to get good at expressing gratitude and one of the things Iβve been glad of is my good friend and colleague Sanjay who made a lot of time for me today to talk through things with him despite him having a busy day. I feel very lucky to have worked with him for five years, because heβs been consistently kind and supportive with the massive amount of change that has occurred for me over the past few years.
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For the first time in weeks, Iβm writing this before midnight and intending to go straight to bed after Iβve finished writing. Today has been really exhausting - I didnβt get much sleep last night and this morning I woke up uncharacteristically early. I was able to head onto campus and get my Snorlax model out of the Form 3+ early and get it going through the 10min IPA wash then the 15min post-cure just in time to rush off over to my therapy appointment.
I had a good session, even if it was mostly an hour spent getting the therapist up to speed on everything the last 18 months has held for me. I really hope I manage to get the funding for a regular weekly therapist at some point, because this is the 3rd one Iβve seen in two years and though theyβve all been lovely, itβs always meant spending at least one session just talking non-stop to try and fit all the detail in. I donβt even feel like I managed to cover everything this time, which says just how much of a hard two years itβs been.
As soon as I was done with the appointment it was me hopping onto a Voi (hire e-scooter) back to campus to get on with the day as it was my rota day to take all the requests that came in and so I was rushed off my feet and honestly Iβm feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of work after a couple of quiet weeks. Iβm looking forward to sleep, honestly.
Iβm grateful that the Oddish planter that Iβve set to print over 18 hours came out okay and that I was able to pop it in the Ultimaker washer to get rid of the PVA on it. Iβll be grabbing it out of that (with hopefully no PVA supports left on) and the leaf shaped dish that it sits in once I get onto campus in the morning.
Iβll have a bunch of sanding and spray painting to do to get it looking how I want it to look before I can give it to S, if I get a chance to do that on Friday
A 50 (+/-0)βββββββββββ βββ G 318 (+/-0) ββββ βββββββββ M 0 (+/-0)ββ ββββ βββββ E 0 (+/-0) βββ ββββββββ B 0 (+/-0)
The Oddish part itself is looking really lovely having come out of 18hrs in the washer, but itβs only bare white PLA right now, I need to sand, prime, and spray it. I shall provide one once Iβve painted it, hehe.
As a teaser, hereβs the leaf dish that it sits in with little feet to catch draining water - we luckily had exactly the right colour of filament for it ^-^
Headed onto campus fairly early this morning to get the Oddish out of the washing bath and the leaf off the printer (as shown in the above picture) and was super pleased to see how nicely everything had come out. I spent an hour sanding them both in from 180-grit to 3000-grit with wet and dry sandpaper and now the Oddish feels as smooth as ceramic, all ready for priming and spray painting tomorrow to get it the proper Oddish colour ^-^
Tomorrow Iβve got to be heading over to Robinβs school early for a meeting and so Iβll once again not be back on campus until 10:30, the second day this week that itβs been the case. Thankfully I managed to get a lot of stuff done today and so thereβs less stress about being off campus for a bit.
Iβm starting to do better at getting to bed on time. In fact, Iβm going to head to bed very soon, but itβs also meaning Iβm waking up earlier. Itβs like my body resists getting any more than six hours sleep. Silly body.
I hit mid-level today and so I got half of my new reviews done, but Iβm still left with 68 Iβll need to work through if I plan to keep old of my 0/0 streak!
Iβm grateful that today I got to stack the Mac Pro G5 I made into shelves on top of another G5 - resulting in the most Apple-est set of work shelves ever made. It makes me very happyβ¦ and if I ever lose the space, I can always use these two G5s to make a nice bench, haha!
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This morning I woke up quite early after an early night in bed with my book. I set my washing machine timer in a rare feat of organisation and then headed on my walk into town. I took a bus over to my sonβs school for what was a long and emotionally exhausting meeting.
Heading back to work, I went straight into the lab and removed the model Iβd printed from the Form 3+ and then popped it to post-cure while I took a nice lunchtime walk. I was super happy with how it turned out; just need to give it a bit of sanding on the weekend when I have time.
My afternoon then went by in a flash and Iβm happy to say that I resolved a long-standing issue that had been plaguing one of the research teams. I headed off for a lovely evening and now Iβm very much chilling with University Challenge and looking forward to a morning breakfast walk.
Iβm grateful that I managed to get all my lessons and reviews done today!
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Paints arrived today, so Iβve got everything set, but Iβm not going to get a chance to paint until the weekend, alas. Iβll be painting it on Saturday, I think, so will give the finished result then, hehe.
); one of the training exercises we used to do was runner-specific interval training where you would walk a set distance/time/number of strides, alternated with running an equal amount, and the running intervals would be done at different paces (40%, 60, 30, 80), so instead of decided to go for a whole run you could mix it up.
. Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.